Crazy idea? Opinions welcome

zagubov

Depending on how remote you are, it's possible you'll miss any or all of the following: visitors, wifi, local shops, supermarkets, nightlife, entertainment choices, good phone reception, good TV signal, fast internet, public transport, mains utilities, access to doctor or dentist, quick fire/ambulance response in emergencies, access to airports for travel.
And so on.

kingstreet

Will you be able to get care, if it is needed?

We live in a semi-rural part of Staffordshire not that far from civilisation and finding care is very difficult, as my Health & Social Care Team Leader spouse tells me...

[Deleted User]

Thank you all of the useful responses. Some of the concerns don't apply re being isolated. We live about 20 minutes away from our preferred village so access and visitors not an issue. I do take on board though comments about the pitfalls of renting ������

FreeBear

AnotherJoe wrote: »

Also, and just my observation as a visitor to NPs, but unless you live somewhere quite built up within a NP, dont forget that it can get pretty bleak in the winter

Having been to the Lake District during the spring break, I found places like Ambleside crowded and the roads clogged up with tourists. Certainly wouldn't want to live there (or even visit) during the summer months. If I were to move to the area, perhaps find somewhere in Penrith and walk/cycle in to the NP.

Murphybear

AnotherJoe wrote: »

I think you grossly underestimate the costs, risk and hassle of letting out your house.


Also, and just my observation as a visitor to NPs, but unless you live somewhere quite built up within a NP, dont forget that it can get pretty bleak in the winter, with all the nice thinsg you might enjoy as a casual visitor to a small village in the summer, like tea shops, visitor centres etc, shut and the place becomes very quiet. Of course you may be going out for walks every day even when its raining or worse but if not then just consider the reality. Also is there easy access to doctors, dentists shops hospitals etc?


I would start by renting a variety of places for a few weeks at a time and seeing how that works out before taking the very big step of letting your house. And of course, bear in mind that if you find somewhere very nice to rent, you have no security of tenure you could be asked to leave at any time (with notice of course).

We lived on a farm on the edge of Dartmoor in the winter. Big mistake. Nothing was in walking distance, GP a long way away and it snowed heavily the months we were there.

AnotherJoe

Missu wrote: »

Thank you all of the useful responses. Some of the concerns don't apply re being isolated. We live about 20 minutes away from our preferred village so access and visitors not an issue. I do take on board though comments about the pitfalls of renting

If you only live 20 minutes away why contemplate all this hassle and cost? Why not just visit from where you are now ?

Marvel1

a_silver_lining wrote: »

If you will have financial security, why not live life to the full, knowing that you have your little house to move back to should you, say, need care in the future.

This is the worry part, it's not that simple (often posted here).

zagubov

Our last house move was a spectacular improvement.
The house we moved from was a terraced house in a gated development on the outermost edge of south London. Lovely views of open land, but no shops, bars, nightlife, easy access to buses and also miles from the emergency services. We didn't see them rolling up the pavements at night, but I'm sure it happened. It had the peace of the grave.

Our "new" house is smaller and just as close to the edge of London as the old one but we've got lots of pubs and restaurants, parks, regular trains, buses that can take us to Croydon or Heathrow for £1.50 and although we're a village we have local versions of waitrose tesco and sainsbobs and all the big supermarkets within a 1.5 mile radius. I can walk to the doctors, the big hospital with an A & E is less than 4 miles of fast road away from us.

Got to say, we realised the hard way how convenient convenience is, and how quick the tiresomeness of being remote becomes.

The fact that villages have few people and cities have many should make people think very carefully whether they belong in the very tiny portion of the Venn diagram of people who can live better out in the sticks and away from the conveniences of towns.

If renting somewhere remote for a while will help with the decision, I'd say go for it, but it's probably better to do it at the worst time of year so you get the big picture, not the touristy one.